Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

Updated 0825 GMT (1625 HKT) December 24, 2012

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

10. Aung San Suu Kyi – As part of our end of year coverage, CNN.com International asked users to vote for the people who they thought defined 2012. More than 24,000 of you ranked your top 10 newsmakers from a shortlist of 20 chosen by CNN.com International journalists. The scores were calculated on a weighted basis -- each "#1" vote awarded 15 points to the candidate. Each "#10" vote awarded 1 point. Here are your top 10 people of 2012, from 10 to one:10. Aung San Suu KyiPro-democracy campaigner and Nobel-Peace-Prize-winner who endured years of house arrest took up her seat in Myanmar's (also known as Burma) parliament 22 years after election victory. Suu Kyi, who was imprisoned in her own home for 15 years, traveled this year to London, Washington and Norway, where she was finally able to give her Nobel acceptance speech 21 years after winning the prize. At the time she won, the prize was accepted on her behalf by her son during her house arrest.

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

9. Alan Oliveira – 9. Alan Oliveira

Brazilian Paralympic athlete Oliveira became the surprise 200m gold medalist at London 2012 after beating favorite South African Oscar Pistorius, the world's most famous "blade runner."Pistorius immediately complained that the length of Oliveira's running blades gave him an unfair advantage. The International Paralympic Committee replied that all athletes competing in amputee events had their prostheses measured before the race, and Oliveira said it was "difficult" to hear allegations of cheating from someone he regarded as a "great idol."

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

8. Francesco Schettino – 8. Francesco Schettino

Captain of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the coast of Italy in January, killing 32 people. The ship, carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members, turned on its side after striking rocks close to the Italian island of Giglio.Schettino faces allegations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship, failing to report an accident to the coast guard and destroying a natural habitat.

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

7. Psy – 7. PsyThis 34-year-old South Korean rapper burst onto the world stage with his song "Gangnam Style," which has become the most watched YouTube video of all time and the only one to get more than one billion views on the site.The song is named after an upmarket district of Seoul, but it is Psy's horse-riding style dance moves that caught everyone's imagination and have been tried by everyone from Ban Ki Moon to Ai Weiwei.

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

6. Malala Yousafzai – 6. Malala YousafzaiA 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban in October for campaigning for girls' education.She is now recovering in hospital in Britain -- where she was flown to receive treatment unavailable in her own country -- and has been visited by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.Her local school has now been renamed "Malala Public High School" and the United Nations launched a campaign for girls' education named "I am Malala."

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

5. Joseph Kony – 5. Joseph KonyKony is a fugitive warlord and leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, which has caused terror across Uganda and Central Africa for more than two decades.The reason you've heard him in the news this year is as the subject of "KONY 2012," an online documentary made by the American activist group Invisible Children, which had been watched 74 million times within a week of its release on YouTube in March. This viral video proved the internet's power to highlight issues.

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

4. Xi Jinping – 4. Xi JinpingHe replaced Hu Jintao has leader of China's ruling Community Party in November when the party met for its once-in-a-decade transition of power. As China is expected to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy in the next four years, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Xi could become the world's most powerful man within his 10-year leadership.

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

3. Bo Xilai – 3. Bo Xilai The former leader of Chongqing, in southwest China, fell from grace in one of China's biggest political scandals. His wife Gu Kailai was convicted of the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, who was found dead in a hotel room in Chongqing in November 2011.Bo, who had previously been expected get into the Politburo's nine-member standing committee, was expelled from the Communist Party causing a political scandal.

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

2. Mohamed Morsy – 2. Mohamed MorsyThe Muslim Brotherhood candidate became Egypt's first democratically elected leader in June, but he has had a controversial first six months in power. There have been widespread protests and violence since Morsy issued an order in November preventing any court from overturning his decisions. Morsy, who was held as a political prisoner under former president Hosni Mubarak, said the move was necessary and temporary, and has since rescinded some of the powers. However, that has done little to quell opposition.

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Photos:Bashar Al-Assad tops CNN Intl users' list of people who mattered in 2012

1. Bashar Al-Assad – 1. Bashar Al-AssadHe remains president of Syria despite a bloody civil war, which began as an uprising in March 2011 and has now claimed at least 20,000 lives and left 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations. Al-Assad has been president since 2000 when his father and predecessor died after 29 years in office. He has resisted fierce international pressure for his resignation and recently told a Russian television station he would "live and die in Syria."